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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28379289">Unwanted Alliances</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMareanie/pseuds/MiniMareanie'>MiniMareanie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Humor, some drama</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:40:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28379289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMareanie/pseuds/MiniMareanie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After crash landing onto a seemingly deserted island in the middle of nowhere, Coco Bandicoot and Nina Cortex are forced to put aside their rivalry as they contend with old foes, forgotten gods, and each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Airship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Well, this is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”</p><p>Coco made a face that fell somewhere between annoyance and ambivalence at the unwanted remark, fixing it squarely on the at Nina who sat across from on the other side of bridge. The expression on the pallid girl’s face told Coco Bandicoot that she likely felt much the same, although it came with no small amount of what she assumed to be indignation.</p><p>While Coco would have ordinarily felt compelled to reply with an insult or some other quip, probably regarding Nina’s buck teeth, at the moment she decided it was more worth her time to ignore the comment, occupied as she was with fiddling with the innards of a recently malfunctioned control panel that spat out sparks whenever she attempted to coerce back into some semblance of functionality.</p><p>Nina was similarly tied up in her own activity. In that she was quite literally tied up with a length of chain Coco found lying around. Coco wished she would add being silent on top of that, but so far Nina had yet to comply on that front, and there was no duct tape around to remedy that problem. As such, Coco had to hear every insult and jibe thrown her way as acting captain of the wayward airship.</p><p>With a grumble, Coco went back to repairing the damaged panel, pulling herself into it up to her waist. To her increasing frustration, no thanks to Nina, the machine was just like most inventions by the Cortex family; needlessly complicated and liable to shock a careless Bandicoot, as the various scorch marks on Coco’s furred hands could attest to.</p><p>Nina made a harrumph at being ignored, and Coco overheard the sound of whirring electronics, knowing it to be yet another attempt on Nina’s part to free her mechanical gauntlets, each more than capable of tearing their way through most methods of confinement and subsequently throttling Coco. Thus, the chains. Nina was going nowhere anytime soon, and Coco took a perverse sense of satisfaction as she continued to work.</p><p>The moment did not last as her wrist brushed against something sensitive that took a severe dislike towards her meddling, more than likely a loose wire, an arc of electricity flared in front of her eyes. Were it not for the tinted goggles she had taken to wearing, Coco would have been blinded by the sudden flash. Her hand fared less well as the acrid smell of burnt fur permeated the cramped interior. Coco gripped her wrist, hissing through her teeth in pain. Seconds later it became the least of her worries as the scent of smoke followed, and she hurried to pull herself out.</p><p>“What are you doing you idiot?!” Nina shouted in alarm, once again going ignored as Coco rushed for a fire extinguisher. From there she doused the control panel in a thick layer of foam, sweeping back and forth until the flames were completely doused, and the control panel lay hidden somewhere beneath a blanket of white.</p><p>Once done, Coco breathed a sigh that was a combination of relief and exasperation.</p><p>“Nice going Wumpa Brain,” Nina jeered. “Keep going and you might nreak the one thing able to get us home even more.”</p><p>“Will you can it already!” Coco barked, already well past her limit in frustration. She did not need to be provoked.</p><p>Nina continued to press the issue however.</p><p>“Why should I? It’s not I’m the one that sent us careening off course and away from my uncle’s lab.”</p><p>“I’m not the one who trashed the steering with her freaky metal mitts!” Coco retorted, gesturing with both arms towards the conspicuously large, roughly fist shaped set of dents hammered into various sections of the airships control mechanisms, many of which were still visible even after being covered in copious amounts of foam, all a consequence from Nina’s attempts to beat Coco into the flooring just ten minutes ago. As if to accentuate her point, the controls fizzled pitifully.</p><p>Nina flicked her eyes to the ruined contraption. “Not my fault you dodged and put me in this mess. If you’d just been a good little mutant and let me throttle you there would’ve been no issue.”</p><p>Coco blinked, her brain performing the equivalent of a blue screen as it attempted to wrap around the insanely flawed logic it had been presented with. What made it even more vexing was that Coco knew beyond any doubt that Nina actually believed her own words.</p><p>Eventually Coco decided to preserve what sanity she had remaining and give up on trying to make her arch-nemeses see logic, throwing her hands in defeat as she stomped toward the panoramic window at the front of the bridge. Aside from the many cracks in the tempered glass, which were also a product of their battle, Coco held no fear that it would break as she leaned against it, peering as far to the left as possible.</p><p>There sat North Sanity, largest of the many islands that made up the archipelago she and her brother called home, steadily receding farther and farther into the distance. Coco estimated they were only a kilometer or so away from the landmass, but that distance would only continue to increase the longer they went without repairing the steering.</p><p>Coco checked the rest of the bridge, noticing the radar scanner, one of the few devices left somewhat intact after their bout, and rushed over to check it, finding various points of green light highlighted on the screen, assuming them to indicate islands. One of them was highlighted in yellow however and lay roughly in the same path the airship was heading. Aside from a set of numbers there was no way to what the original destination was supposed to be.</p><p>Coco’s brow furrowed as she considered her options. The traditional method of turning the airship around was out of the question with no way to repair, at least not anymore. That left doing it manually. While Coco was no stranger to dirty work, the fact remained it was still Neo Cortex’s airship, meaning he likely had all sorts of countermeasures put in place to prevent interference from meddling Bandicoots, and she was none too confident after nearly electrocuting herself just moments ago.</p><p>Her third option was looking for a parachute and simply bailing from the airship altogether or, barring that, hoping she’d practiced her swan dive enough to avoid belly-flopping into the waves below. A quick glance downward confirmed that a not insignificant amount of distance lay between the ocean and the airship. Even if that was not an issue, that still left swimming all the way back to N. Sanity.</p><p>Coco spared a brief glance at her captive, still squirming in a vain attempt to undo her bindings.</p><p>Immediately Coco abandoned the idea of leaving the ship while it continued to drift, not while Nina was still on board. Swimming for her was an impossibility with those gauntlets of hers.</p><p>No, as much as Coco and Nina hated each other, to the point where one frequently made attempts to crush the other beneath the foot of a giant death robot, the Bandicoot could not bring herself to do anything like that. As Nina would say, no doubt in derogatory manner, Coco was too much of a goody-two-shoes. As such, she went about thinking up a different solution to their problem.</p><p>With her options dwindling, Coco was eventually forced to confront the fact she might need to accrue the assistance of Nina in order to get anything done. The only problem was that it was Nina. Coco might not be willing to leave Nina adrift in the open until she eventually crash landed somewhere, but there was a line to how far she was willing to go in that regard, and asking someone as pompously egotistical Nina drew very close to that line. That was of course assuming Nina agreed at all. If Coco knew Nina at all, she would more than likely get laughed at.</p><p>Once more Coco glanced out the window, seeing N. Sanity was now far enough away that could barely make out the ugly outline of Cortex’s old fortress, now abandoned.</p><p>What other choice did she have?</p><p>“Hey doofus,” Nina called suddenly, her nasally voice an unwanted assault to Coco’s ears. “You figure something out yet? Or did I mistakenly assume there was a brain somewhere under that pretty blonde head of yours?”</p><p>Coco breathed in deeply, fighting the steadily rising urge to knock Nina’s buck teeth down her throat. Exhaling, she turned towards her captive.</p><p>“Listen here brat,” she said in a tone that she hoped indicated she was losing her patience. In case you haven’t noticed we’re <em>both </em>adrift with no way to turn this hunk of junk around. At this point I care what you were doing around your stupid uncle’s old place, or where you were going after. What I do care about is getting back home time to watch old B movies with Crash. So unless you got any useful ideas, I would appreciate it very much if you shut that ugly trap of yours.”</p><p>Nina scowled, the lowercase n stamped on her forehead deforming slightly as her brow furrowed.</p><p>“Of course I have an idea. Unlike you I don’t spend my spare time jumping on crates in the jungle letting my intellect dull.”</p><p>Coco clenched her fists, saying through gritting teeth, “And that would be what, exactly?”</p><p>Nina considered the Bandicoot for a moment, then her turned her nose up. “I don’t know,” she said in that snobbish tone. “Considering how I’ve been mistreated, I’m not sure I’m all that willing to offer my services.” A smirk spread across her face. “Of course, if you untied me and apologized me, I might be inclined to change my mind.”</p><p>“Yeah, neither of those things are going to happen,” Coco answered flatly, crossing her arms. “Plus, I don’t believe you are any position to be making demands.”</p><p>“Ooh, threatening,” Nina mocked. “I’m so scared I’m shaking in my platform boots. What’re you going to do to me “good guy”? Send me to bed without dinner? Truly diabolical of you.”</p><p>Coco growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You know what? I don’t need this.” With that she stomped towards the iron door at the rear of the bridge, kicking it open with a clang. Pausing in the threshold, she turned and pointed at Nina, wanting nothing more than to tell her off. Seeing Nina’s smug and all too punchable grin, she stammered and was left shaking her fist.</p><p>“Need something? Or am I just that pretty you have no words?” She teased.</p><p>Coco had no words, but not for that. Absolutely not for that.</p><p>A steady heat rose in her cheeks.</p><p>Unable to bear Nina’s stupid face any longer, Coco stormed off into the depths of the airship, searching for somewhere private to cool off more than a solution to their problem. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt it was probably unwise of her to leave her arch-nemesis unsupervised for any length of time. She’d been thorough in applying the chains though, and was confident Nina would still be there once she returned. Probably. Until then, Coco knew she was on her own in coming up with a way to get back home before dark.</p><p>Strolling through the main corridor, Coco absently wondered if she might find something useful aboard that prove helpful. Whatever that happened to be, it would certainly prove more useful than Nina.</p><hr/><p>Nina watched as Coco stormed away, feeling entirely pleased that her comments had underneath the Bandicoots fur so effectively. As smart as Coco was, and even Nina would be remiss to not admit that much given the wonders she could work with a standard laptop, the mutant was far too easily riled up, to the point where it almost took the fun out of their little get-togethers. This time her remark regarding Nina’s aesthetic appearance, or lack thereof, seemed to be quite effective.</p><p>Nina’s analytical mind found that tidbit particularly curious, filing away the interaction for later review and possible exploitation. For now, Nina got what she wanted out of the exchange, and wasted no more time as she set about freeing herself.</p><p>Regardless of how well Coco applied the chains to her captive, Nina might as well have been held in check by a length of string for all the good it did. As much of a slum Evil Public School may have, especially compared to Madame Amberley’s, Nina had to admit she picked up at least a few new tricks. Escaping in the event of being captured by a do-gooder just happened to be one of those lessons, and soon enough she was enjoying the sweet taste of freedom as the chains were melted away by the miniature laser cutter Nina had installed in her gauntlets. Her uncle may have taken issue with such an augmentation to his creation, being the one who installed them on her in the first place, but what did he know?</p><p>Once the chains were gone, Nina stretched her limbs, feeling somewhat stiff. “Ah, that’s better,” she muttered in satisfaction as she worked out the kinks in her joints, her tailbone in particular feeling rather sore after sitting on the cold metal floor for so long. Her retribution for the discomfort Coco put her through be swift and merciless indeed.</p><p>Briefly Nina considered taking a look at the trashed mechanics of her uncle’s airship and see if she could fix. Of course, she could fix them, no doubt succeeding where Coco had so hilariously failed. After a moment of thought she decided to put it off until later. For now there was a Bandicoot running around need of a lesson in the form of a well deserved thrashing. Besides, Nina didn’t want her interfering with the equipment she’d picked up.</p><p>Giggling like the maniacal school girls she was, Nina merrily skipped her way through the door the rotten Bandicoot had exited through just moments before. She failed to notice however a series of objects outside of the viewport, rendered mere pinpricks against the horizon, steadily approaching the airship headon.</p><hr/><p>“Whatcha thinkin’ Boss?” Big Tony asked dumbly, turning in a seat that was far too small for him. Above him his superior loomed, a lean figure dressed in a red pinstriped suit that cut a sharp silhouette against the extravagant backdrop of the airborne casino’s main floor main. Behind the figure was a wide assortment of pool tables, most stacked high with tommy guns and round bombs. The rest were taken up by cronies of all sorts idling away their time by playing cards. “Think it might be Cortex?”</p><p>His superior eyes darted towards him, unamused, and Big Tony could help but squirm. Although smaller and leaner, Pinstripe Potoroo was not a being anyone wanted to be on the wrong side of.</p><p>“Don’t be stupid,” Pinstripe said, his heavily accented tone level yet carrying a hint of venom. Aside from Big Tony, Pinstripe’s other underlings, a gaggle of mutants and evolved animals all dressed in Homburg hats and overcoats, paused what they were doing and visibly shuddered at hearing their boss speak. Pinstripe was legendary among Cortex’s minions for having a razor thin temper, and that reputation had carried him far in his career as head his little gang.</p><p>Pinstripe continued, strolling casually to peer at the viewing monitor over Big Tony’s shoulder, the orange outline of Cortex’s dirigible flashing intermittently. “Cortex ain’t come this way in years, an’ if he did, he wouldn’t be flyin’ in that piece of garbage. Thing’s so outdated you couldn’t pawn it off to a caveman.”</p><p>“Sorry boss,” Big Tony apologized. Tentatively he asked, hoping doing so wouldn’t get him ejected for some perceived transgression, “So what’re we gonna do about? If it ain’t Cortex, then who could it be?”</p><p>Pinstripe pondered the question, going through the list of possible explanations for this odd wrench in his plans. He stuck by what he already said earlier in eliminating Neo Cortex from that list. If Cortex was flying his way towards Pinstripe’s operation, then word would have almost certainly reached his ears. He eliminated as well as N. Gin who almost never did anything without his masters say in the matter. N. Brio maybe? The aberrant alchemist was always in opposition to Cortex’s plans, but he was always careful about it. Acquiring one of Cortex’s decommissioned airships was not like him at all, leading Pinstripe to discount him as well.</p><p>After a moment of consideration, Pinstripe eventually decided the matter simply wasn’t worth fussing about. “If it ain’t Cortex,” he began, “Then it ain’t somebody to feel sorry for.” He flicked his eyes to Big Tony. “If youse get my meaning.”</p><p>Big Tony, ever the slow lump of brainless muscle he was, screwed his face in confusion at his boss’s hinting. “Uhhh.”</p><p>Pinstripe sighed, shaking his head. One of these days he was going to have to commission Cortex for better underlings. These ones had clearly not spent enough time in the evolvo-ray.</p><p>“We’re gonna shoot ‘em down you maroon!” Pinstripe clarified. “Can’t have any rats poking their noses in our business.”</p><p>“Ohhh! I get it!” Big Tony exclaimed as the blessing of intelligence finally revealed some small part of itself to his small mind. “I’ll tell da boys to get da birds ready.”</p><p>“Try to find some brain celsl along the way,” Pinstripe muttered, strolling back towards the ornate pool table that occupied the center of the cabin, a completely unnecessary addition to the airship and prone to skewed matches given the turbulence that came with most flying aircraft.</p><p>“Right away boss!” Big Tony said with a salute before tromping away, presumably to the deck below them. Pinstripe sighed again, attempting to wipe away his frustration by finishing his game.</p><p>He was about to win.</p><p>           </p><hr/><p>“Stupid Nina with her stupid teeth and her stupid hair and stupid hands,” Coco muttered heatedly under her breath, trying to vent her frustration as she trudged further into the airships interior, having not calmed down the slightest since leaving Nina on the bridge, stopping occasionally to inspect on of the dozens of rooms along her route by way of kicking the door down. It was an act she begrudgingly had much practice in, gained through years of both herself and Crash spent foiling Cortex’s evil plans. The recent machinations of his niece did little to ease up on that routine, and Coco found it incredibly disappointing that their perpetual conflict would remain as such for the foreseeable future.</p><p>If only Nina wasn’t such a spoiled brat about it, Coco might have least found thing to be a somewhat bearable part of her schedule. As it was, Coco found herself questioning the wisdom of not simply throwing Nina overboard and just figuring out to turn the airship around herself. Nina was nothing if not resourceful, not to mention sturdy, and Coco did not have the slightest doubt that her arch-nemesis would eventually find her way back to upending their peaceful island life in whatever overly complicated scheme the brat dreamed up next. At least that way, the Bandicoot siblings would have only one evil genius (genius being a loose descriptor) to worry about, at least for a while.</p><p>Besides, it’s not as if Nina would have any qualms about leaving her behind. She was evil for crying out loud! She’d proudly admitted as much herself on multiple occasions, to the point of gloating about attending an institution dedicated solely to the pursuit of being evil, as little sense as that made to Coco. Just last month Nina had tried to vaporize their house with a blimp mounted heat ray, and not a week later had attempted the same but with a tank mounted heat ray.</p><p>"How do you even get a job being evil? It’s not like it’s an actual vocation,” Coco wondered aloud, shoving her hands into the pockets of her dungarees, suddenly feeling a slight chill in the air. The overhead lights flickered briefly as Coco continued to follow them, only vaguely recalling the original reason for coming down here, trying not admit it was mainly to put some much needed distance between her and Nina.</p><p>Soon Coco came across a large gear shaped door at the end of corridor. A green sensor shone at the which turned a stark shade of red as she approached. It looked to be automatic, and would so easily yield to a forced entry judging by the reinforced plating and hazard lines surrounding it. “Main Hangar” a sign read, underneath which was placed a sticky note with a crude drawing of a bandicoot with a red X scrawled across it.</p><p>Never one to abide rules, especially made by Cortex, Coco ignored the sticky note and looked around for an access panel. Finding one, she pulled away the cover and began fiddling with the mess of wiring contained within. Hotwiring it proved a far easier endeavor than her failed attempt at the controls, and Coco was rewarded by the light turning a green and the whirring of unseen mechanisms as the door slid open.</p><p>Just beyond, Coco found the door leading downward along a thin catwalk into the spacious interior of the main hangar, and summarily stopped to take in the scene before.</p><p>In total, she estimated the hangar to be about a hundred or so meters in length, and held ample room for the various machines and contraptions Cortex concocted in his fervent attempts at world domination.</p><p>What Coco found was not a horde of mutated minions or death robots, not even a hastily gathered collection of power crystals. Instead, she saw stacks upon stacks upon stacks of crates. Red crates. Red crates with “TNT” labels, loaded and ready to be moved on large steel pallets. Interspersed among them was what seemed an entire crews’ worth of construction vehicles and drones and various other equipment as well as raw materials, all taking up every inch of the hangar that could be spared.</p><p>“What the?” Coco questioned aloud, shuffling forward onto the catwalk. Just what was Nina up to with all of this stuff. Was this what she was doing at Cortex’s old castle? That was the only possible reason she could think of as to why she suddenly arrived in Cortex’s airship over the island, which in turn had prompted Coco to investigate.</p><p>Whatever Nina was up to, Coco knew that if it involved metric tons of highly explosive TNT crates, then it could not possibly be anything good.</p><p>Looking out over the hangar, Coco spotted something else, and her dread was momentarily abated to find what could only be one of Cortex’s hovercrafts sitting near the main hangar door, held in place by a loading crane and seemingly ready for use. Finding a way down, Coco ran over to inspect the craft. Like most of Cortex’s transports the hovercraft was built roughly in the shape of a flat disc, not unlike a UFO from the old science fiction movies she watched with Crash and Aku Aku, albeit with a large Capital N stamped on the front. Cortex was nothing if not consistent in his own self-aggrandizing.</p><p>It was also a two-seater.</p><p>Whether Coco considered that to be fortuitous, she had yet to decide, although the thought of strapping Nina to the outside of the craft where she wouldn’t have to hear her complaining was an appealing one. Now to see if there happened to be a set of keys.</p><p>Coco’s ears twitched as a sound of whirring cables, the only warning she would ever get as she dove to the floor, narrowly avoiding the mechanical gauntlet as it flew past her head, impacting on the hovercraft and leaving a considerable dent in its exterior as metal warped and twisted around the hand.</p><p>“Hey there doofus,” Nina greeted with a smirk, the cable connecting her wrist to the gantlet retracting until her hand reattached with a firm click. “Miss me?”</p><p>“Like I miss a headache,” Coco shot back as she stood, squaring up for a fight she knew she couldn’t talk her way out of. Instead she settled on questioning Nina’s intentions, hoping to at least get the girl to monologue a little. “Found your little side project. What do you plan to do with it? Did your uncle turn you into a little errand girl after the last time I kicked your butt?” she said teasingly.</p><p>“As if I’d ever tell you,” Nina said, not taking the bait. “But you can rest easy knowing my uncle’s got nothing to do with this. This here’s an independent operation,” she said, cracking her steel knuckles. “Sorry to say you won’t get to see the end result.”</p><p>With that, Nina launched another strike.</p><p>More prepared this time, Coco leapt over the incoming projectile, the fist sending sparks flying as it carved a little gouge in the floor. Not allowing Nina to retrieve the gauntlet, Coco deftly onto the cable with both feet, the sudden motion pulling Nina off balance enough for Coco to grab the cable and put all of her weight into a swing that sent the girl careening into a stack of wooden crates. It was actually the same maneuver she’d used to best Nina on the bridge.</p><p>“Again? Really?” Coco taunted. "How many times are we going to do this until you get it through your head that you’re not going to win?”</p><p>Stunned from the impact, Nina shook it off with a growl, leveling a vicious sneer at the Bandicoot. The sneer morphed into a grin as something clicked behind Coco. Expecting to feel a gauntlet club her in the back of the head, Coco turned to deflect the incoming projectile. It never came. Instead she saw Nina's gauntlet had latched onto the hovercraft, metal deforming in its crushing grip. Too late did Coco realize the deception as Nina collided with her at high speed.</p><p>What ensued was a great amount of thrashing, kicking, biting, and an even greater amount of name calling as their brawl went on.</p><p>“Cruddy mutant!”</p><p>“Spoiled brat!”</p><p>“Glorified rat!”</p><p>“Beaver face!”</p><p>Just as Coco put Nina into a headlock, both she and Nina immediately ceased all attempts at caving the others face in as they felt the ship suddenly lurch. They froze. Made eye contact. An alarm blared somewhere.</p><p>“What was that?” Coco asked hesitantly, Nina still locked in her arms.</p><p>The airship shuddered once more, this time accompanied by the distinct rumble of what sounded like the engines failing. Lights flickered, and the airship began to tilt.</p><p>“That’s not good,” Nina muttered, what little color there was in her face draining away. Coco offered no protest as Nina struggled free of her grip, rushing toward a set of levers. Pulling one, the loading ramp and the rear of the hangar rumbled open, and the rush of wind that followed was almost deafening to Coco’s ears as she joined Nina, more out curiosity.</p><p>“What the hell?!” Nina shouted in alarm and fury, and when Coco looked it immediately became clear what the source of her aggravation was one of the giant propeller engines was on fire for some inexplicable reason, a cloud of black smoke streaming in its wake. Over the din of flames and the wind Coco overheard the faint buzz of a different engine. Turning her head this way and that, she soon spotted the source.</p><p>“Found your culprit,” she mentioned, indicated the trio of biplanes, each looking more like an ostentatiously decorated streetcar with wings than actual planes, looping around to perform another strafing run on the airship. When she looked at the expression that adorned Nina’s face when the girl spotted them, one of insane rage, she suddenly felt glad to not be the subject of it for once. Never-the-less she shuffled a few away a few steps, if only to make it so she wasn’t immediately available in case Nina wanted to break something.</p><p>Her gauntlets creaking from how hard she was clenching her fists, Nina growled under her breath, “Pinstripe, you lousy two-timing piece of filth!”</p><p>“Pinstripe?!” Coco questioned, and she looked closer, and indeed could see the insignia of Pinstripe Potoroo engraved on the sides of the craft as they drew closer. She then saw the flash of their guns, aiming for the other engine as bullets punched holes into the vulnerable airship. It didn’t explode like the other, but still let out a rather worrying wine as it began to fail. “Why is Pinstripe attacking us?”</p><p>Still seething, Nina barely bothered to answer. “Doesn’t matter why,” she growled, stomping over the boxes Coco had smashed her into just moments before, rummaging through the debris. Coco paled when she saw Nina heft a massive rocket launcher, already loaded and ready to fire what looked like Nitro rod hammered vaguely into the form of a missile. “What does matter is making him pay for it,” Nina added, stomping back to the loading ramp. Glancing back and forth between Nina and the planes, which were looping around once more to finish them off, Coco said worryingly while glancing around at the rapidly degrading airship around them, “Uh, Nina? M-maybe we should think about this? I mean I really don’t-“</p><p>Nina shut her up with a look that promised all sorts of retribution should she ever finish the sentence, held her gaze for a moment until she was certain Coco would remain quiet, and took aim for no more than a few seconds before getting a lock on the lead biplane, opening fire immediately afterward.</p><p>Now, Nina’s hands were brute tools, mechanical replacements meant to withstand almost any amount of punishment and dish out just as much, as Coco had learned many times before. The rest of her body was not as well suited towards the sudden and violent recoil that a nitro fueled missile could dish out. As such, Nina was sent flying backwards with a yelp.</p><p>Despite the mishap, the missile flew onward, streaking through the sky like an angry green comet before impacting on the tail of one of the aggressors, erupting in an emerald cloud and sending the biplane spiraling downward.</p><p>“Hah! Take that you vermin!” Nina cackled triumphantly as she hobbled back over to see the results of her retaliation, seemingly unharmed from being flung backward. Coco merely rolled her eyes and shook her head. She took notice of something that made all the blood drain from her face, and she tugged on Nina’s sleeve.</p><p>“What?! Can’t you see I’m-“ Nina began, only to cut herself when Coco pointed behind them, indicating the utter mess the hangar had been reduced from the recent turbulence. Stacks of TNT crates were now sliding around, having come loose of the straps holding them in place. Severed cables sparked with electricity. Missile heads were rolling this way and that. In essence, it was veritable catastrophe just seconds away from being ignited.</p><p>Coco and Nina shared a look.</p><p>“Should we. . . ?” Coco said, gesturing toward the hovercraft.</p><p>“That would a be prudent, yes,” Nina answered with a curt nod, acting as though they were not about erupt in a fiery explosion and subsequently be rendered unrecognizable piles of burnt ash. Not a moment later they scrambled for the hovercraft as Coco all but leapt into the drivers’ seat, frantically searching for switch or set of keys, anything to get the contraption started, Nina trailing close behind. Nina hopped in alongside her, and a glass canopy closed overhead.</p><p>“Hey! Do you mind?!” Coco exclaimed as she was shoved to the side.</p><p>“Me?!” Nina shouted back, looking just as aghast at having to share such a cramped space with her arch-nemesis. “You’re the one who needs to shove off! This is <em>my </em>hovercraft.” A pause, after which quietly admitted with a finger to her chin, “Actually it’s my uncle’s I guess.”</p><p>Just then both girls felt a disconcerting sense of weightlessness, the kind that usually came with falling from great heights. It seemed that whatever had been keeping the airship afloat had finally given out, as they were now plummeting out of the sky at increasing speed, debris and wreckage and high explosives floating around.</p><p>“Not the time Nina!” Coco stated, spotting a lever that seemed to be a starting mechanism, giving it a hard tug.</p><p>Nothing happened.</p><p>She pulled it a second time.</p><p>Still nothing.</p><p>“Uh. . .”</p><p>“What? What’d you do?” Nina questioned accusingly, while Coco sheepishly met looked at her.</p><p>“It’s, uh. . . it’s not turning on,” she muttered, hesitant to say it aloud. Scowling, Nina leaned over to inspect the multiple dials and switches on the dashboard, putting her far too close for Coco’s liking in the already tight confines space they were in.</p><p>“Ooh. Uh oh,” she muttered simply.</p><p>“”Uh oh”?” Coco repeated. “What does “uh oh” mean?”</p><p>“Uncle Neo forgot to refill the gas tank,” Nina explained, pointing a metal finger at a gauge Coco had previously missed. Now that it was pointed out to her, the large red E indicated by an inert yellow needle sat there mockingly.</p><p>“Oh,” Coco said, her tone mirroring Nina’s.</p><p>Outside, something exploded, and arcs of electricity danced around. TNT crates everywhere began to flash as they were activated. Outside the hangar bay, the crashing waves of the ocean could be seen as the horizon rose up to meet them.</p><p>Coco and Nina shared a look.</p><p>Nina blinked.</p><p>Coco did likewise.</p><p>Finally the tense calm that had settled between them shattered like glass as they both started screaming their heads off, frantically looking around for anything to hold on to, eventually settling for each other.</p><p>Unable to endure the strain of being tossed around, the crane holding them in place finally gave as cables snapped and steel bent in odd angles. No longer secure, the hovercraft was flung to and fro as the world spun around them.</p><p>“I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!” Nina screamed into Coco’s ear. “I’m gonna throw up! And then I’m gonna die!”</p><p>“No no no don’t do that!” Coco screamed back, suddenly finding Nina’s greenish suddenly greenish complexion more worrying than they were now only a hundred or so meters from impacting into the ocean. Her search for an emergency doggy bag was cut short as a massive ball of blindingly bright red and green fire enveloped the craft, and just as quickly went dark.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Island</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Coco was not sure when her brain decided to flutter its way back into some semblance of consciousness. The first sensation that she could adequately describe feeling was a sort of damp grittiness, the sort she felt the first (and last) time Crash had attempted to cook something that did not involve raw wumpa fruit. Bless his doofy heart he had really tried.</p><p>The second feeling was a sort of clamminess, like she had been draped in a soggy blanket. Coco dragged her eyes open, seeing shapes and colors that befuddled her groggy mind as she tried to make sense of them, still caught in the lingering grip of weary sleep. She also heard a dull rumbling, which she immediately identified as the crashing waves of the ocean without even having to think about it.</p><p>Coco felt herself groan, a deep and throaty sound that at least took away some of her puzzlement, and she was finally able to categorize what she was seeing and feeling, to an extent.</p><p>Sky. The first thing she saw was the bright blue sky, with thick palm leaves swaying across her vision. It suddenly occurred to Coco that something was off. Why was she here? Did she pass out? It wouldn’t be the first, but that usually only happened after working on a project for too long.</p><p>Rolling her eyes to the left and right, Coco saw the beach, for it was undoubtedly a beach she had awoken on, stretch on for a distance before it was overtaken by dense jungle flora. She even saw a large blocky red shape near the tree line, her blurry vision identifying it as a totem head, situated to face outwards towards the ocean like a silent watcher.</p><p>All of these things she was very familiar with from years spent of N. Sanity island, as memories of of playing video games on her laptop or fiddling with machines while Crash lazed around napping in the warm sands resurfaced. They were pleasant memories, and Coco felt an equally pleasant smile find its way to her face.</p><p>For a while she simply stood there, thinking of what she might do while Crash dozed beside her. Maybe nothing. Maybe she would take a page of his book and take the day off. The thought of it was certainly an appealing one. Already Coco felt herself slowly drifting back to sleep, soothed by Crash’s snoring.</p><p>It was only then she realized that heard neither Crash, or his snoring. In fact, she hadn’t seen or heard any hint of her brother during her admittedly brief and admittedly woozy inspection of the immediate vicinity. This worried her slightly, but for out of fear for Crash, no. Despite his dense and goofy attitude, he was more than capable of taking care of himself.</p><p>What worried Coco was the realization that she had no recollection of how she got onto the beach in the first place.</p><p>Shaking away the urge to sleep, more sensations returned to Coco. A stiff soreness that permeated throughout her body was chief among them, to the point where Coco wondered if she’d been recently subjected to one of Crunch’s crushing hugs. While less of a goof than Crash by a wide margin, there were times when Crunch didn’t know his own strength, augmented by steroids and cybernetics as he was.</p><p>That was not the case this time however, of that Coco was sure. The ache she felt now was less spine-breaking and more body-numbing, and she found it difficult to move.</p><p>In fact, she couldn’t move at all save for her head, and she craned her neck forward to see if she could glean the reason as to why.</p><p>Right off the bat she was presented with two questions, first of them being why her captor couldn’t have used something more appealing than vines to tie her up. Second was why was she tied up in the first place?</p><p>The answer to at least the latter of them soon presented itself as a familiar if unsightly face came into Coco’s field of view, and pieces that had been missing up to that point slotted neatly into place.</p><p>“Finally decided to rejoin the realm of the living, eh?” Nina commented snidely, sneering down at Coco.</p><p>“Nina,” Coco replied bitterly, putting all of her displeasure at having to awaken to her enemies pallid, buck-toothed visage into the name. The effect was dampened somewhat by the fact she was currently immobilized, making her about as threatening as a cat caught in a bundle of string</p><p>It didn’t help when Nina scoffed at her in response. “Oh, how the tables turn, wouldn’t you say? As I seem to recall, our positions were reversed not but a short while ago. And now here we are, me the one in control and you the one at my mercy. Almost poetic in a way.” Nina grinned, leaning closer to look Coco directly in the eye. “You should’ve thrown me overboard when you had the chance.”</p><p>The way Nina said that, along the look she was giving, sent an uncomfortable chill down Coco’s spine. Shoving the feeling down, Coco retorted, “Yeah, can we just get the part where I break free and beat you?”</p><p>“Oh not to worry. There’ll be plenty of time later for us to resume our little quarrel. That will have to come later however,” Nina stated, walking away and outside of Coco’s view. Not wanted to let the girl out of her sight for more than a second, Coco squirmed and twisted until she spotted Nina strolling towards a pile of scrap metal and wasted electronics.</p><p>“Fortunately for you my ire has been directed to something else,” Nina continued, plucking a burnt circuit board from the pile. She inspected it for a moment before unceremoniously flinging to the side, where it landed next to Coco’s head while Nina rooted through the mess. “Additionally, recent developments have necessitated the need for me to seek. . . outside influences to get what I want.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Coco questioned, an idea of what Nina was hinting at already forming in her head, already not liking what it implied.</p><p>Nina confirmed her suspicion by whirling around and almost shouting, “Put it together wumpa-brain! We’re stranded! S-T-R-A-N-D-E-D! Stranded! Everything I’ve been working toward is sitting at the bottom of the ocean now! All my resources, my equipment, gone. And not only has your incessant need to be an annoying little do-gooder interfered with my operation, it’s also gotten me stuck on this backwater island no one cares about!”</p><p>Coco scowled, taking quite a bit of umbrage at the accusation. “Hey! I’m not the one who shot down your stupid airship!” she retorted harshly. “In case you’ve forgotten, it was Pinstripe and his goons who went and blew it up!”</p><p>“Oh, believe me, Pinstripe will get what’s coming to him. Don’t you worry about that,” Nina said, wagging a metal finger in Coco’s direction. “But don’t think for a second I’m going to forget your role in ruining my plans.” After a moment Nina’s furious expression abated into something less ugly. Not quite calm, more a suppressed annoyance that bubbled very near the surface. “However, I am a rational person.” Coco found that highly debatable. “As such, I’m willing to momentarily look past your blundering, and recruit you in the interest of salvaging as much as I can out of the situation.”</p><p>“You seriously expect me to help you?”</p><p>Nina smiled. “Consider it recompense for the insufferable thorn you’ve been in my side as of late.” Anticipating Coco’s refusal of her “generous” offer, Nina plucked another machine part from the pile, holding it up for Coco to see. Despite the damage it had sustained, both from the crash and washing ashore, Coco still recognized it as the camera head of a cleaning drone, one among the dozens she’d dispatched on the as of yet unexploded airship. “And if you, for whatever reason, decide it not to be in your best interest to comply. . .”</p><p>Nina let her actions get the point across as the drone head was rendered into little more a bundle of mulched scrap between her steel fingers. The sadistic smirk Nina sported was hard to miss, and again Coco felt a shiver crawl up her spine.</p><p>Discarding the now ruined bit of machinery, as though she suddenly found it offensive to her presence, Nina began walking away.</p><p>“Hey! Where’re you going?” Coco called after her, struggling to see.</p><p>“To get more salvage to build a radar,” Nina called over her shoulder, explaining no further as she muttered something else to herself under her breath that Coco could not quite make out. Left with nothing else to but contemplate her eventual escape, Coco resigned herself to simply waiting for her captor to return.</p><p>“This sucks.”</p>
<hr/><p>Pinstripe's base of operations, an enormous structure that looked a cross between a casino and a factory plant set at the peak of a dormant volcano, was abuzz with activity as his hordes of underlings milled back and forth. The main landing platform exhibited the highest concentration of activity as they carried crates of supplies ranging from TNT to vehicles parts to heaps of playing cards into the structures’ storerooms for later use.</p><p>The pace only quickened as Pinstripe’s personal zeppelin came into view, slowly circling overhead like a gold-plated hawk. Everyone knew better than to slack off when the boss was around to see.</p><p>All this Pinstripe saw as he lounged on leather chair, keeping a close eye on the progress of his latest venture through the wide panoramic window of his quarters, all while a staticky voice blared through the radio and informed him of the state of things.</p><p>So far he had been nothing but disappointed, a sentiment reflected in his demeanor which he did nothing to hide as he put a finger to his brow, glaring heavily at the screen which displayed the increasingly worried muzzle of his lackey, a lanky mutant whose name he’d never bothered to commit to memory.</p><p>“P-progress is slow goin’ boss,” the lackey stuttered. “The boys’ve been goin’ as fast as they can, but most of ‘em don’t have much experience workin’ outside in the boonies.”</p><p>“I don’t care,” Pinstripe growled, losing his patience. “Cortex entrusted me with this job, and I ain’t about to let him know his faith was misplaced because they couldn’t cut it out the field. If you can’t get those no-good freeloaders to get a move on, then I’m gonna commission Cortex to have ‘em replaced.” He leaned closer to the screen, finger hovering over the end-call button. “And if that lava processing plant ain’t up and runnin’ by tomorrow, there’s gonna more than a few of youse sleepin’ with the fishes.”</p><p>With that, Pinstripe ended the call, lounging back in his chair in a attempt to relax from the increasingly aggravating day he’d been having. First some unknown intruder moseys in on his airspace, shoots down one of his planes, and now he’s learned they’re behind schedule on getting a foothold on this backwater island. “Oh brother,” he moaned, shaking his head.</p><p>As grateful as he was to Cortex for recognizing his talents and gifting him this venture, Pinstripe was starting wonder if would even be worth it, especially considering the headache it was turning out to be. At least there weren’t any natives or drive them, or any bandicoots meddling with his plans.</p><p>For a little while Pinstripe merely sat and sulked in the privacy of his personal quarters, lavishly decorated with all the niceties of home, not the least of which being a six foot portrait of himself adorned the wall. It all did nothing to lighten his mood.</p><p>“Who were those guys anyway?” Pinstripe said aloud, for the first time truly pondering why an outdated model of Cortex’s airship had suddenly appeared in his territory. He still stood by the decision to shoot it down, but the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him that something didn’t quite add up.</p><p>Pinstripe was never the type of individual to ever ask for help from anyone, but in this rare instance, a bit of advice would go a long way towards alleviating his rising concerns.</p><p>Tapping a few buttons on his chair, a camera drone about the size of a basketball appeared out of an opening in the carpeted floor. It beeped several times, then lit up as it displayed a green tinted hologram in front of him, displaying an a spacious room filled to the brim with electrical equipment and flashing monitors. In the center of it, a short man with yellow skin and a massive cranium with a capital N stamped above his heavyset brow stood.</p><p>“Ah, Pinstripe!” Dr. Neo Cortex greeted. “How good it is to hear from you.”</p><p>“Top of the mornin’ to you too Doctor,” Pinstripe replied, his own mood lightening by quite a bit. “How’s the latest experiment goin’? Any closer to world domination yet?”</p><p>Cortex rolled his, sighing heavily. “It would be much farther along if only I had an extra set of hands to keep everything stable. Unfortunately, none of regular assistants are quite resilient enough to withstand a point blank dose of intense radiation without, you know, dying.” Cortex looked around, seemingly searching for something off screen. “I’d ask my niece to help, but for some reason it seems that she’s up and disappeared on me, again. I always worry when I don’t know where she is.”</p><p>“Thinkin’ she might be plottin’ behind your back again?” Pinstripe commented, being all too familiar with the machinations of Cortex’s esteemed niece.</p><p>“Oh, Nina’s always scheming up some way to usurp me,” Cortex replied with a wave of his hand. “One of her best traits really, I’m quite proud of it. Madam Amberley’s taught her well. But no, my concern is whether she’ll be back in time for dinner. I made her favorite casserole, and I don’t want it to go to waste!”</p><p>Pinstripe blinked, unable to quite wrap his head around the strange dynamic Cortex shared with his niece. He’d only met her a few times, but even those were enough to make him decide to keep his distance.</p><p>“Rrright,” he said, deciding now to be as good as any time to move on to the purpose of his call. “Anyway, you probably guessed this ain’t just a courtesy call. I was wonderin’ if perhaps you knew somethin’ about one of your old airships floating around.”</p><p>Cortex put a gloved hand to his chin, stroking his beard in contemplation. “Not that I know of.” Picking up a data-pad from a nearby desk and tapping on it a few times, Cortex added, “As far as what the records show, every one of my airships is accounted for and. . . huh. Well, that’s strange.”</p><p>“Problem doctor?”</p><p>“It would seem that someone or something has tampered with the records,” Cortex explained as he inspected his data-pad more closely. “And has apparently gone to quite a bit of effort to cover their tracks.” Suddenly Cortex exclaimed angrily, “What?! Missing?! One of my airships is missing!”</p><p>At this Pinstripe leaned forward, his interest piqued at the turn the conversation took. “Any idea who stole it?” he questioned.</p><p>A brief moment passed as Cortex went to a terminal, clicking a set of keys before answering. “Unknown, but if I were to hazard a guess, and I’m never wrong with my guesses as they are very well educated, it would have to be those rotten failed experiments of mine.”</p><p>“The Bandicoots? Those maroons?”</p><p>“I doubt it could be anyone else. The log shows that after it was stolen it charted a course straight for North Sanity, the home of those wretched marsupials!” Balling his hands into fists, Cortex slammed them into the terminal in anger. “Blast them! They’ll pay for this!”</p><p>It was at this point Pinstripe chose to speak up as a grin spread across his muzzle. “No need to worry yourself, good doctor. The problem’s already taken care of.”</p><p>Cortex glanced at him, eyebrow raised. “Beg pardon?”</p><p>“Those losers got the bright idea to pilot it down here. Naturally, I guessed somethin’ was off, and took matters into my own hands. Sent ‘em down to sleep with that fishes. You ain’t gotta worry about ‘em no more,” Pinstripe explained, his pride swelling even as he made a show of dusting off his suit.</p><p>“Oh, that’s good to hear. At least I know Crash and his gang of miscreants won’t be taking it for a joyride anymore. A shame though, I’d planned to turn it into a nice little army of gun drones.” Cortex sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. He then looked to Pinstripe and added, “Be that as it may, I would advise making sure you finished the job Pinstripe. They may be dumb as a limp fish, but those Bandicoots are infuriatingly hard to kill.”</p><p>Pinstripe nodded. “I’ll be sure to send a few patrols out. And if they see any sign of ‘em, my boys’ll know what to do.”</p>
<hr/><p>While she was no longer bound by the arms and legs anymore, Coco would find it somewhat of a stretch to call herself overjoyed to have them replaced by a tightly wound harness tethering her to a palm tree, allowing her some range of movement while not letting her out of Nina’s sight. As much as Coco wanted to protest on the grounds that she was just as stuck as Nina on the island, but something told her that the girl wouldn’t hear any of it. As such, she settled for dirty looks while tinkering away at a damaged piece of scrapped machinery, salvaging any useful components from the wreckage Nina had scrounged up from the beachside.</p><p>Sitting a few meters away, noticeably just outside of Coco’s reach, Nina did likewise, her right hand morphed into something resembling a multi-tool which she put to good use in dismantling the remains of what seemed to be type of engine, looking just as if not more miserable than normal. As she watched Nina cut away sheets of steel to get at the delicate wiring contained within, reassembling them into a rectangular tablet, Coco found herself feeling somewhat envious of the utility the gauntlets provided. The set of screwdrivers and pliers Nina supplied her seemed woefully inadequate in comparison.</p><p>The moment quickly passed as Coco remembered she didn’t even know why they were building a radar scanner in the first place. Her first guess was to use it as a means of getting off the island, but it seemed a better solution would a radio. It would’ve been easier to build too.</p><p>Whatever Nina’s reasoning, thus far both their efforts had proven fruitless. Coco was just fine with that however. The time spent allowed Coco to contemplate their situation. When she asked Nina where exactly they were, the only clarification she got before having a bundle of busted electronics dumped in her lap was after the unfortunate destruction of Cortex’s airship, something Nina made sure to point out was mostly Coco’s fault, they had washed ashore on a relatively small and unremarkable island some distance South of North Sanity. As Nina described it, the island itself was little more than a forgettable pile of dirt that neither she nor her uncle could be bothered to strip for resources, subsequently being written off their logs. She then proceeded to order Coco to get to work before she made good on her threat.</p><p>While she begrudgingly obliged, the Coco dwelt on the explanation, the more certain parts of it didn’t quite add up. For one, no matter how of a waste it might have seemed, Coco had never known either of the Cortex’s to write off an islands’ worth of raw materials, even a small one. Not that she was complaining about that of course. The less Cortex and his ilk plundered the archipelago the better.</p><p>The second part that didn’t add up was the idea that they had both somehow managed to drift ashore, and that Nina just so happened to find Coco’s unconscious form on the beach. Coco didn’t remember too much from the crash, but she did recall it being particularly violent. Not exactly something one just survived with minimal injury. That wasn’t even taking into consideration the fact they plummeted straight into the ocean as well. The whole thing seemed be not so much a stretch as much as a statistical impossibility.</p><p>For the second time Coco found her gaze drifting towards Nina.</p><p>There had to be something the girl wasn’t telling her. Of that Coco had little doubt. Yet the suspicions forming in the back of her head made Coco wonder if she were going crazy for even thinking of, and she doubted Nina was going truthful with her any time soon. As such the question Coco felt compelled to utter was stifled and forced back down. It would her little good to try satisfying her curiosity anyway, and Nina would not take it particularly well anyway.</p><p>At least that’s what she told herself.</p><p>“What’re you looking at?”</p><p>The question hit Coco like a brick to a pane of glass, and it was only then she realized she’d been staring at Nina, and it had not gone unnoticed.</p><p>“Nothing,” Coco quickly replied, unsure why her face was warming up and desperately hoping it didn’t show through her fur. She averted her eyes, trying to find something else to occupy her attention. Eventually an excuse jumped to the forefront of her thoughts, and she latched onto like a life preserver in the hopes it would dissuade any questions.</p><p>“It doesn’t look like we’re going to get rescued anytime soon,” she stated before Nina interrupted her.</p><p>“First, that’s because you’re spending more time spacing out than working. Second, I’m not trying to get rescued if you haven’t already figured that out.”</p><p>Coco scowled. “Says the brat who’s supposedly such a genius that she can build a death robot in a day.” She gestured to the pile of wreckage and scrap metal. “What’s the end goal here Nina? Even if you don’t want to explain what we’re supposed to use this junk for, even you have to admit we can’t work with this. Everything here is either crushed beyond recognition or waterlogged to the point of uselessness.”</p><p>Nina eyed the heap unhappily, her brow narrowing as she looked ready to tell Coco off. She didn’t protest however, instead fixing Coco with a stare that fell somewhere between annoyed and tired.</p><p>“And what do you suggest, mutant?”</p><p>Ignoring the natural urge to insult Nina back, Coco replied, “I’m just saying, since it’s obvious we’re going to be stuck here for a while, we may as well hunker down for the night, and see what can be done tomorrow.”</p><p>“Are you really suggesting I slum it out in the woods? Like you?”</p><p>“I thought you didn’t mind getting your hands dirty?” Coco retorted, cocking an eyebrow.</p><p>“Only when it’s absolutely necessary,” Nina answered, crossing her arms in defiance.</p><p>“Well, it’s necessary now. Unless you want to spend the night without any food or shelter.” Motioning towards the ocean, she directed Nina’s attention to the horizon. “Suns going to start setting pretty soon Nina. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a fire going when it does.”</p><p>Nina, still scowling, stared outward at lapping waves, unable to refute Coco’s claim, for even she could see that the sky had begun to adopt a purplish tint that heralded the approach of nightfall. Coco let her think, knowing that for all of her obstinance, even Nina Cortex’s flawed sense of logic could not come up with an argument against her. Eventually her shoulders sagged, and Coco felt a smug sense of satisfaction to know she’d won. It was somewhat tempered when Nina turned, jabbing a mechanical finger at her.</p><p>“Fine,” she growled. “But if you think for one moment that I’m going to stoop to your level and degrade myself into some halfwit hunter-gatherer, you’re sorely mistaken. You’re doing the work in that department.”</p><p>Coco shrugged. “Fair enough.” She didn’t believe for a second it was actually fair, but that seemed unimportant at this point.</p><p>Besides, a plan was starting to form.</p><p>“And don’t think I’m letting you out of my sight either,” Nina added, tossing a bundle of components into her backpack before dusting sand off her dress suit and stomping over to undo the vine from around the trunk of the palm tree, winding it tightly around her waist. Coco merely rolled her eyes, feigning annoyance. Of course, she didn’t expect Nina to let her roam unsupervised. If anything, she would have been disappointed. For now, Coco simply pretended to be just unhappy at the turn of events.</p><p>“Well?” Nina said expectantly, motioning with a wave of her hand. “Lead on.”</p><p>Coco obliged, trudging towards the tree line, Nina following close behind.</p><p>As soon as they made it past the first wall of trees Coco was instantly inundated with a plethora of sights, sounds and smells that culminated together into an almost overwhelming cavalcade of sensations, and a thin smile found its way to her face as she was reminded of home. The smile only grew when she overheard Nina groan in disgusted resentment at being subjected to them as well, her demeanor souring with every step they took further into the jungles’ depths, hopping over fallen logs and skirting around pitfalls throughout.</p><p>Within ten minutes into their trek Nina demanded, sounding somewhat out of breath, “What exactly are we looking for Bandicoot?”</p><p>Without bothering to look at her captor to address the question, Coco answered over her shoulder, “If there’s anything that needs to be done first, it’s to find a source of food. And it just so happens that there’s a certain commodity on the archipelago that will answer all our problems in that regard.”</p><p>“What are you talking abo-“ Nina stopped, forcing Coco to halt as the makeshift leash went tight and tugged her backwards, and she looked behind to find Nina lightly pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please don’t tell me what I think you mean.”</p><p>“Yup!” Coco replied as she reveled in Nina’s revulsion, turning her gaze upwards to spy the very thing that had elicited the reaction.</p><p>Hanging from many branches, practically glistening in their ripe and juicy splendor, bunches of reddish fruits sat suspended not but a few meters above their heads.</p><p>Wumpas. The veritable lifeblood of the archipelago, assuming one didn’t count the various supernatural energies coursing through the islands themselves. A fruit that was as commonplace to the inhabitants as water.</p><p>The sound that came out of Nina’s mouth upon spying the bounty displayed before them was one Coco didn’t imagine anyone could make. All the same, it was all the more satisfying to behold the expression of pure disgust that sullied her captors’ visage.</p><p>“No,” she proclaimed vehemently. “I am not going to torture my palate to that parasite ridden garbage you call sustenance.”</p><p>Coco crossed her arms. “Well tough luck. This is our only source of food for the foreseeable future. So, the choices for you are either that, or starve. What’ll it be?”</p><p>Nina’s frown deepened considerably, and her eyes narrowed into dangerously thin slits. “You’re treading on very thin ice, <em>Coco</em>,” she hissed, putting particular emphasis on her name. Rarely did Nina ever refer to Coco by her name without tacking on an insult of some sort. Rarer still did she do so without the implicit threat of grievous bodily injury, and Coco felt this instance was going to be no exception as the same sense of unease sent the fur along her spine to stand on end, and it took all of her self-control to hold Nina’s hate laden gaze.</p><p>Coco remained stoic. “You want to eat or not?” she asked, hoping that if she framed the dilemma as an ultimatum it would deprive Nina the chance to make good on her threat, presenting her with a simple yes or no to answer with.</p><p>Eventually a sigh emanated from Nina, and it was obvious that she was incredibly displeased at being forced to agree with her enemy for the second that day. “Fffffine,” she growled.</p><p>“Glad you could see reason,” Coco replied with a clap of her hands, whereupon she began to scale the tree before Nina could say anything else. “Besides, it’s not like you haven’t eaten a wumpa before. . . right?”</p><p>Nina rolled her eyes. “Only after it’s been heavily processed and turned into a chemical laden smoothie. You know, like civilized people do?”</p><p>Coco paused in her climb, looking down at Nina in genuine disbelief. “You’ve been here, living with your uncle all this time, and you’ve never eaten a raw wumpa?”</p><p>Nina put her hands to her hips, a faux grin crossing her lips. “Sorry, but some of us do have standards, something you wouldn’t know about.”</p><p>The implied insult went ignored as Coco resumed her climb. “Well, you’re missing out.”  In a few moments she was seated comfortably on a branch, scooting along until she was in easy reach of the wumpa bunches. The vine tethering her to Nina was almost taut. “Here,” she said, snagging a fruit and tossing it down.</p><p>Nina made no effort to catch it, and the wumpa splatted on the ground in a blob of purple juices.</p><p>“You. . . you’re supposed to catch it.”</p><p>“I’m not eating that thing raw,” Nina stated, crossing her arms with a metallic clink of her gauntlets. “There could be worms in that thing for all I know.”</p><p>Coco inhaled, trying very hard not to lose her patience. “It’s too early in the year for worms. You honestly think I would try and poison you or something?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“You’re right, I would. But I’m not. This time anyway. I know this may be difficult for you to believe, but I don’t spend every waking moment plotting how to ruin your day. It’s exhausting enough dealing with your uncle as it is. Here.”</p><p>Coco tossed down another wumpa, which Nina bothered to catch this time, intercepting the fruit midair with an extended hand. She didn’t eat right away however, and instead at it morosely. Seeing that she still needed convincing, Coco plucked one for herself, taking a large bite as juices flooded her mouth. Wumpa fruits were unique among most foods, being able to flourish in almost any environment and possessing a texture not unlike watermelon, but much sweeter with a hint of tartness.</p><p>“Go on, try it,” she urged through a mouthful of fruit, not even bothering to wipe away the juices leaking from the corners of her mouth. Nina already viewed as uncouth, so it mattered little to Coco if she witnessed her being a messy eater as well.</p><p>Nina turned her baleful gaze to the wumpa in her hand, giving it a tentative sniff. Apparently finding nothing overtly offensive about, she proceeded to ever so slowly bring it to her lips as though it would try to bite back. Coco merely watched from her perch as Nina finally scraped the slightest sliver away with her teeth. She could almost see the exact moment the girls’ mind had changed as her expression softened into something slightly less gloomy. As soon as her first taste was finished, Nina went in for another bite.</p><p>“Told you so.”</p><p>Too busy eating to shoot back an insult, Nina settled for an eye roll as she continued to eat, unaware of Coco slightly readjusting her position on the branch, taking hold of the vine with both hands.</p><p>Nina swallowed and began to say, “I’ll give you credit this time mutant, that wasn’t nearly as horrible an experience as I expected it to b-“</p><p>Nina never got finish either her sentence or her wumpa as her world was suddenly and violently upended at high speed, her words devolving into a yelp of alarm. When everything finally stopped moving and her dizziness abated somewhat, Nina inexplicably found that the world had somehow inverted around her, reasonably certain the forest floor was supposed to below her feet as opposed to above her head.</p><p>“Wha-?! What the?! What happened, what’s going on?!” she demanded furiously, turning this way and that until she spotted Coco Bandicoot, feet still firmly planted on the ground and looking all too smug about it, the vine held firmly in her hands.</p><p>“You,” Nina said, her tone dripping with hate and promising recompense unlike any other as she watched her enemy easy untie the vines keeping them tethered together, reattaching to an low hanging branch. “You dirty, rotten, little rat!” she seethed, her rage obstructing all sense of practicality as she reached for Coco, yet even with her extendable gauntlets Coco was infuriatingly just outside of her grasp.</p><p>“Sorry Nina,” Coco said without even the slightest hint of sincerity behind the apology. “But you really should learn how to tie a better knot.”</p><p>“When I get down, I’m going tie your organs into a knot!” Nina shouted, flailing madly in frustration while Coco made a mental checkmark of this being the third time she’d bested Nina through the use of wumpa based subterfuge in the last several months.</p><p>“Maybe later,” Coco remarked snidely with a grin to match, serving to only further infuriate Nina. “See you later nerd,” she added with a mock salute, snagging a fallen wumpa fruit and making her departure as Nina continued to scream bloody murder and hurl every manner of insult and promise of vengeance after her.</p>
<hr/><p>“I wonder how long it’ll take her remember she’s got multifunctional steel traps for hands,” Coco pondered aloud, one hand stuffed in her pocket while she casually bit into her wumpa, her general attitude improving markedly as the cacophony of Nina’s furious tirade was gradually swallowed up by the sounds of jungle. As much of a genius Nina was, to the point where she surpassed her uncle in many aspects, she was almost embarrassingly predictable when angered, abandoning any sense of tact or logic. It had been a key factor in defeating her in the past.</p><p>Coco was just glad she finally had some peace and quiet as she casually as she strolled through the dense jungle and feeling no need to hurry whatsoever. While it was only a matter of time before Nina finally realized she just rip her way free of the vines, Coco would be long gone by then.</p><p>A thought buzzed in Coco’s head as she hopped over a bubbling stream, making her wonder if would be worth it to go back and at least attempt to hash things out with Nina. The idea was immediately discarded.</p><p>It was Nina after all. The moment she was free she would tear her way through anything and everything to get to Coco for the sole purpose of enacting vengeance. Even without the caveat of a raging schoolgirl complicating matters, Coco knew depressingly well how difficult it was to get Nina to see sense. There was no reasoning with her.</p><p>She had tried before, and it never ended well for her.</p><p>Coco sighed as she chewed, stowing away all thoughts of Nina and turning them towards other matters, specifically how to get back home. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she’d awoken to find herself Nina’s prisoner, but was certain it was long enough for her friends to start worrying about her.</p><p>While she contemplated, Coco suddenly caught sight of something hidden past the trees as the jungle gave way to a circular clearing about a hundred feet across, with a large lump of vegetation resting square at the center. Recognizing the mound to not be a part of the natural environment, she felt compelled to investigate. She moseyed over cautiously. While ruins and other such structures were commonplace on the archipelago, more often than not they had hidden traps and other mechanisms designed for the express purpose of repelling would be looters through such methods as ensnaring, impaling, crushing, burning, and in some cases all of the above.</p><p>Mindful of hidden pressure plates and trip wires, Coco eventually made it close enough to make out a series intricate patterns carved into the surface of stone, obscured by a blanket of creeping vines. Brushing some of the overgrowth away, Coco found herself flummoxed, unable to determine what the object was, prompting her to toss away her snack rip away the vines in large clumps.</p><p>What she found beneath was a large totem head, not unlike the one she saw on the beach. Carved out of reddish stone, the thing was around three meters tall and just as wide, and encircling it was a trio of stylized faces that reminded her of the various idols made and worshiped by the native tribesman that called the island their home. The similarities were only tangential however, as the faces on this totem had been rendered into something decidedly more ferocious, angry and spiteful, furrowed brows, blazing eyes and large pointed teeth set into enraged grimaces. Whatever this god was supposed to represent, it clearly was nothing benevolent.</p><p>“Hm,” Coco hummed, putting her hands to her hips, her knowledge of the native gods unable to apply a name to this particular totem. Perhaps Aku Aku would know.</p><p>As Coco studied the totem, her ears flicked in response to a low droning noise. At first she thought it was an insect of some sort, but as it steadily grew louder in tone she recognized as belonging to an engine, and she looked around to identify where it was coming from. She soon spotted as an aircraft flew overhead, flying close to the treetops before circling back.</p><p>At first Coco thought she’d been presented with the means by which she could get back home, and began to wave her arms to get the pilots attention.</p><p>“Finally, a way out of this mess,” she said, happy to finally put this whole ordeal with Nina behind her, and very much looking forward to lounging around back home and do nothing but play video games.</p><p>Whoever the pilot was, they did nothing to signal back, though it was clear they had spotted her. The smile fell from Coco’s face as it approached, seemingly right for her. As it got closer, the shine of tacky gold trim became visible, reminding her very much of the same type of craft that belonged to Pinstripes’ underlings. The same ones that had shot down the airship.</p><p>“Uhhh,” Coco said uncertainly, beginning to backpedal. Her danger senses flaring, she rushed for the only available cover and dove behind the totem head, pressing her back to its surface just as bullets pelted the ground where she once stood, smacking into the totem as it flew by. The barrage only ended when her attacker flew overhead, looping around for another strafe.</p><p>“Of course. It’s never that easy is it?” she muttered bitterly, calculating how much time she would get to run back to the safety of the jungle, knowing pinstripes goons would lose her in the dense foliage. If she sprinted for all she was worth now, she might just be able to make it.</p><p>Any plan she had of escape was crushed, wadded, up and tossed out the nonexistent window as the ground began to shake violently, accompanied by the crackle of stone and a deep groaning that sent her fur standing on end. Ever so slowly she turned her attention to the totem head, each set of eyes of the three faces glowing a fierce red. The soil heaved beneath her, sending her flying as an enormous stone hand erupted out of the earth, followed by another, then another, until four arms as thick as redwoods were gradually prying the totem from its earthy prison.</p><p>Rolling with the impact, Coco fought dizziness as she looked back, frozen to the spot as the monstrosity rose up and up and up, towering nearly fifty feet tall. Its eyes, once lifeless orbs of hewed stone, flashed in what could only be described as the seething fury of a being whose only memory and purpose was that of eternal hatred and wrath.</p><p>Bullets pelted against the body of the totem monster, which served to do no more than draw its attention as it fixed its baleful gaze upon its assailant. Its head spun clockwise to a face with a gaping maw filled with sharpened fangs, behind which a sickly green fire billowed into life. A moment later a plume of emerald flames erupted from the monsters’ mouth, enveloping the aircraft and causing it to explode in a flash so bright Coco had to avert her eyes to keep from being blinded. When she was able to look again, all she found in the planes place was a cloud of smoke and falling shrapnel.</p><p>The totem monster then directed its attention to her, the wrathful glow in its eyes having not dimmed in the slightest.</p><p>“Uh oh.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Chase</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Stupid rotten Bandicoot,” Nina muttered, stilling dangling from the wumpa tree and feeling none too proud of how long it took her to realize she could simply rip her way free, as opposed to trying to wedge her too big metal fingers into the knot.</p><p>As much as she prided herself on her abilities, even she had to admit that she was too easily riled up, especially when it came to Coco. She would have to deal with that later though. For now, it was just another transgression committed against her.</p><p>More fuel for the fire as it were Nina thought as took hold of the vine, easily tearing it apart.       </p><p>“Hah!” she exclaimed triumphantly.</p><p>“Agh!” she exclaimed alarmedly, only realizing her error after she landed on the ground, groaning in a combination of pain and exasperation.</p><p>“I’m gonna kill her,” she mumbled, staring bitterly at the canopy above. “I’m gonna kill her, turn her into a zombie, and kill her all over again.” Eventually peeling herself from the ground, Nina dusted herself off in disgust, finding more than a few unsightly stains had been added to her dress suit as bits of fetid jungle matter clung to her attire no matter what she did. Coco would pay for that as well.</p><p>Her anger at the Bandicoot having not abated in the slightest since being humiliated as she was, Nina scanned the ground, quickly spying a trail of prints left by Coco’s sneaker leading away into the jungle. Grinning wickedly, Nina followed after them with furious intent, looking forward to giving her arch-nemesis the thrashing of a lifetime, muttering to herself the entire way.</p><p>“Never should’ve come here,” she seethed. A fallen log blocked her. A trivial obstacle that she could have easily hopped over or simply gone around. Nina chose neither option, opting instead to launch a powered strike at the most minor of hurdles, the tempered steel of her fist punching the thing into splinters, leaving a mess of debris in Nina’s wake as she stomped past without even bothering to so much as admire her handiwork.</p><p>“Never should’ve stolen Uncle Neo's stupid airship. Should’ve just thrown Coco overboard when I had the chance.”  </p><p>Coco’s trail went on for several minutes, and in the back of her mind Nina wondered how she was able to cover so much ground in such a short amount of time. Nina herself had to clear several obstacles. Streams, pitfalls, crumbling remains of ruins appeared throughout her warpath, all rendered pointless as she either swung over or outright demolished them.</p><p>The delay only served to further infuriate Nina, tempered only by that once Coco was put in her place that she could get on with her true mission. Then she could finally show up her evil-for-nothing uncle once and for all. The though put a grim smile on Nina’s face, and her fists tightened in anticipation.</p><p>Nina suddenly paused, the grin falling as she overheard something ahead of her.</p><p>The snap twigs, the rustling of leaves, all culminating in the unmistakable sound of someone or something heading her direction. Caution replacing fury for the briefest of moments, Nina proceeded at slow pace, muscles tense in ready for a fight. In addition to irksome mutants, the archipelago was home to host of other dangers ranging from man eating plants, feral boars, spear throwing tribes-folk and giant polar bears to name a few.</p><p>The sounds drew closer, until whatever was crashing through brush was mere meters in front of her. Nina readied her gauntlets in preparation to punch whatever it was into oblivion.</p><p>What popped out of the foliage was none of the aforementioned flora and fauna. Instead, it was Coco, running full sprint for all she was worth right towards Nina.</p><p>Nina’s grin returned in full force. “Well, well, well!” she proclaimed, cracking her knuckles. “Fancy seeing you again. And here I thought I was going to have to-“</p><p>“Run you idiot!” Coco shouted, not bothering to slow down enough to glance at Nina as she ran past.</p><p>Nina blinked, her brain performing the equivalent of a blue screen as she attempting to process what just happened. “What?” she muttered in confusion, turning to watch as Coco continued to sprint away for all she was worth. “H-hey!” she called after the fleeing Bandicoot. “That’s not how the hero-villain conflict goes! Get back here!”</p><p>Coco either did not hear the demand or just simply ignored it, leaving Nina by herself. Placing her hands on her hips, she was left to ponder what had gotten into the cruddy mutant and why it was worth putting off her well-deserved comeuppance.</p><p>The answer soon presented itself as an earth-shattering impact sounded behind her, accompanied by the crack of entire trees snapping in half as something enormously heavy barreled its way through the jungle, the cacophony growing louder by the second.</p><p>She looked over her shoulder.</p><p>Immediately wished she hadn’t.</p><p>Now, Nina was not entirely unfamiliar with the local gods and deities that made up the intricate pantheon of the archipelago. Hanging around her uncle, and by extension Uka-Uka, had passively imparted unto her a basic knowledge of their existence, as well their legendarily poor disposition towards anything they viewed as an intruder, necessitating a general rule of avoidance.</p><p>Beyond that however, Nina knew very little of totem gods, having zero interest in anything that didn’t involve furthering her goals. So seeing one in the flesh, or stone more accurately, while not entirely surprising to Nina, was nothing short of worrying. Especially considering said totem god was in the process of tearing its way through the jungle towards her, uprooting trees like weeds and crushing every obstacle beneath its feet.</p><p>“Oh,” Nina said simply, as it finally occurred that it would be conducive towards her continued existence to follow Coco’s lead, as all the adrenaline that was originally geared towards punishing the rotten marsupial was redirected into an instinctual flight response.</p><p>Screaming at the top of her lungs and pumping her legs as hard as she could, Nina soon caught up with Coco.</p><p>“What the heck did you do?!” Nina screamed, struggling to keep pace.</p><p>“Don’t this on me! Blame Pinstripe’s idiot goons for shooting it!” Coco shouted back, risking a quick backwards glance just in time to see a tree flying toward them.</p><p>“Duck!”</p><p>Knowing better than to look, Nina simply reacted on instinct as she rolled forward, both her and Coco narrowly avoiding their heads being taken off as the tree crashed in front of them. Neither one of them willing to slow for even a second, they vaulted over the obstacle.</p><p>“Don’t you know how to make it stop?!”</p><p>“If I did, don’t you think I would’ve already tried?!”</p><p>A roar rang out behind them, sounding like an avalanche mixed with the cacophonous billowing of a raging inferno, instilling a sense of concern that Nina rarely experienced before. The adrenaline pumping through her was not enough however, as it became increasingly evident that Coco was the better runner, as Nina was not as athletically inclined as the Bandicoot, nor were platform boots suited for traipsing through the jungle.</p><p>Her legs burned, threatening to give out no matter how much she ordered them to keep moving. If this kept up, she was absolutely going to be the first to get stomped into the ground. Thinking quickly, she shot her arm forward, hooking it onto a branch and pulling herself along, flying past Coco entirely. Unable to let the moment go by without gloating at least a little bit, Nina put a thumb to her nose, mocking the Bandicoot while she continued to swing at high speed through the dense jungle.</p><p>"Have fun being a sacrifice doofus!” Nina cackled while Coco scowled. Nina’s reveling was cut short when she felt a sudden lug on her tug, find Coco attached to her ankles with her fluffy arms firmly wrapped around them. “H-hey!” Nina blanched. “Who said you could do that?! I’m not a taxi service!”</p><p>“Shut up and keep swinging!” Coco yelled back, but Nina wasn’t going to have any of it. Totem god or no, she didn’t give out free rides.</p><p>“Get off!” Nina protested, alternating arms in an effort to pry Coco off while maintaining forward momentum.</p><p>“No!”</p><p>Nina swung at Coco’s head, missing her cranium by inches. She was about to try again until a bright emerald glow appeared in the corner of her eyes, and a pillar of eldritch fire cut a swath through the foliage towards them. They were lucky enough to not be caught as it incinerated everything in its pass as the it passed overhead, yet even then Nina could still feel the intense heat beating down on her skin.</p><p>This turned out to be the least of her concerns, as the fire had all but obliterated the trees she was using to escape, and with nothing for her gauntlets to grapple onto, Nina felt a tightness in her chest as they began to descend, hitting the ground in heap.</p><p>Dazed and momentarily forgetting where she was or what she was doing, the first thing that came to mind upon achieving some semblance of clarity was that everything ached profusely.</p><p>Nothing seemed broken, but it was obvious she’d be sporting a number of cuts and scrapes for a while. It was good thing superficial damage only ended up making her look cooler. However, as Nina’s dizziness started to abate, she noted something off about herself, feeling somewhat lighter than normal. When she determined what the source of it was, her heart sank as she recognized it was anything but superficial.</p><p>Her right gauntlet was completely melted, rendered nothing more than a lump or liquefied steel that only vaguely resembled a hand, fingers fused together and electronics sparking as it still glowed red hot from being caught in the fire.</p><p>Time slowed to a crawl for Nina, unable to take her eyes off her gauntlet, and for a brief moment she felt a phantom sensation of when she still had flesh and blood instead of cold steel and cables.</p><p>The only thing that distracted her from her stupor was the vibration of an enormous stone foot slamming down in front of her, reminding her that she was not out of the proverbial woods yet as an almost beastly growl emanated from the totem god, shocking some sense back into her and telling her that it was probably a good idea to start moving again.</p><p>She felt lethargic though, still recoiling from losing her gauntlet and from the fall. She was too slow.</p><p>Something yanked her backwards, and slowly Nina realized she was moving, yet her legs weren’t, and something was pressed up against her. She looked, and her perplexity was only heightened to find a face full of Coco’s bushy ponytail, and a sense of indignation she’d not felt since her uncle shipped her off to Evil Public School overrode any sense of confusion she had.</p><p>“What are you doing?!” she shouted in offense, taking extreme umbrage at being slung over Coco’s shoulder. “Put me down.</p><p>“Going against my better judgment!” Coco replied, straining from the extra weight while trying to maintain some distance between them and their pursuer, a distance that was rapidly diminishing with each passing second as the totem god loomed closer and closer. “Unless you want to get stomped into the ground!”</p><p>Something clicked inside Nina, like a chip taken off a pane of glass as her sense of pride twinged.</p><p>One of the many lessons that’d been drilled into her at the Academy of Evil and Evil Public School was to never let the hero gain the moral high ground by saving her, because you then ended up owing them, which was a black mark on any villains’ career. There was even a test on it, which she had naturally passed with flying colors.</p><p>Of course, the scenarios presented for those tests tended to have little variation between them, typically involving hanging over a pool of lava, or hanging over a pool of toxic chemicals, or hanging over a pool of ravenous mutant bunnies.</p><p>Lots of hanging from ledges she noticed.</p><p>She didn’t recall any of them involving being chased through the jungle by a glorified lawn ornament with an outdated sense of aesthetic, but Nina supposed the same principle still applied.</p><p>Finding her words, Nina began to thrash about, shouting, “Put me down! I don’t need anyone to save me! Least of all you!” Nina conveniently omitted the part where if Coco hadn’t come back for her, she would’ve been paste. Given the context she didn’t view it as important, and continued to struggle.</p><p>“Would you quit it?!” Coco admonished, struggling to keep a grip on the girl as she ran. “Are you trying get us waaAGGHH!”</p><p>Whatever Coco was about to say was lost as they very suddenly encountered a steep decline in the terrain, her sentence devolving into a series of pained grunts which Nina joined in on as they tumbled downward at increasing speed as they became an indistinguishable mass of bruises and flailing limbs, careening through the jungle and leaving the pursuing totem god far behind.</p>
<hr/><p>“I’m just sayin’,” Fink muttered irritably beside Lab Assistant Number Three-Four-Two, “What’s all the fuss ‘bout a bunch a power crystals, am I right? I mean, it’s not like they’d be any better than a good ol’ gas engine, least not for your basic necessities. I mean why’s all these mad scientists and the like gotta be so dead set on insistin’ everything run on some weird energy beams or whatever? Just impractical is what I’m sayin’.”</p><p>Three-Four-Two did not respond, doing his best to ignore the talkative mutant, keeping his grip firmly on the steering wheel and his sight centered on the back of truck in front of him as they rolled along a poorly made, muddy road through the jungle at a speed that was far too slow for his liking. It didn’t help they were only one of several in a convoy of other transports that never seemed to go any faster no matter how much he honked the horn.</p><p>“And s’pose everything is run on fancy crystals and whatnot? Not like those things are easy to find, right? If you ask me, all those high falutin’ geniuses could stand to learn a thing or two coming down and getting’ their hands dirty for once instead of staying cooped up in their labs.”</p><p>Three-Four-Two cast a sidelong glance at Fink through his standard issue goggles, quietly wondering if Pinstripe would miss this particular minion if something were to happen. The annoying mutant had done nothing constructive throughout the entire trip to and from the harvesting crews. Nothing but talk. Talk with the backdrop of vehicle horns and the incessant noise that came with being in a jungle.</p><p>For <em>hours</em>.</p><p>As much as Cortex’s minions were supposed to have no personality or qualms regarding their assigned stations, there was a limit to how much an unremarkable worker like him could take.</p><p>“Still, it’s a job, and it pays. Even if it is in poker chips with the boss’ face on ‘em. I wonder how much this haul will get us, eh? I mean, a couple tons o’ these wumpa fruits have gotta worth somethin’, Am I right?”</p><p>Not enough to shut up, clearly. Absently Three-Four-Two wondered if he could be reassigned to carrying nitro crates back at the iceberg laboratory. It was certainly a far sight more appealing than listening to Fink ramble on about seemingly nothing.</p><p>“Can’t stand the things though. Taste is all off, and-“</p><p>Whatever Fink was about to say was cut off, saving Three-Four-Two the trouble of strangling the mutant as something crashed into the bed of their truck, sending a spray of fruity pulp flying.</p><p>“What the keck was that?!” Fink blurted, to which Three-Four-Two had no answer as he stomped on the brakes, each turning their attention to the rear view mirror, finding most of the wumpa fruits they’d been hauling back to Pinstripes headquarters had been somehow reduced into a pool of bright purple paste.</p><p>Neither of them failed to notice something moving among them either.</p><p>Fink’s and Three-Four-Two’s eyes met briefly, before ever so slowly directing their gaze through the window in the back of the cabin just in time to witness something that could have only come from a child’s nightmare burst out of the muck in a spray of juices. At least two heads, far too many limbs and some twisted main body, all of which remained partially unseen through the juices covering it. The thing thrashed about, tripping over itself in some horrific attempt to stand.</p><p>Both Fink and Three-Four-Two felt the blood drain from their face as multiple years were taken off their lifespans as their screams joined the monstrosities own pained wails, each fighting to undo their seat belt before bailing from the truck cabin entirely.</p><p>“Aghhh my eyes! It’s in my eyes!” Nina hollered, desperately trying to wipe away the wumpa paste from her face, a task made no easier with thick metal fingers. It didn’t help the cabling of her arms was currently entangled around both herself and Coco, who was in the process of trying to determine which direction was up.</p><p>With a motion that resembled swimming than anything else, Coco groped around for something to latch onto, dragging Nina along until her fingers found the edge of the truck bed. With a great heave she managed to pull them both over, whereupon they fell with a splat onto the ground in a heap.</p><p>“Coco?” Nina said, panting heavily while straining to lift her head and keep it steady enough to look at her arch-nemesis.</p><p>“Yeah?” Coco replied, equally winded.</p><p>“I hate you. . . so much,” Nina blurted, planting her face in the mixture of mud and wumpa juice. Coco merely reached over, patting the girl on the back sympathetically.</p><p>“I hate you too.”</p><p>“Ugh, where. . . where are we?” Nina mumbled while taking in their surroundings, her vision blurry as she attempted to drag her feet beneath her to stand, only to lurch to the side and fall flat on her face. Coco muttered something under her breath that went unheard as she dragged herself upright, clutching her head.</p><p>Propping herself up, Nina was painfully aware of how pathetic she looked, on her hands and knees, covered in scrapes, bruises and wumpa juice, all culminating in a mood that was about as far from pleasant as it had ever been in her career as a villain. It only continued to sour when she looked up, greeted by the sight of Pinstripe’s logo, a portrait of his smug muzzle set into a wide grin.</p><p>Something. . . squirmed, for lack of a better word, within Nina, like a wriggling worm made of petulant disdain coiling in on itself. A festering sensation she’d not felt since her uncle had dumped her , quite literally, into the subpar institution of a cesspit that was Evil Public School.</p><p>Her feelings regarding a certain family of Bandicoots came close, but even that was more of a hate fueled annoyance.</p><p>The scorn she felt now was different, as her swirling thoughts coalesced into a single, focused goal, set in place as she hammered her melted fist on the logo with a crash, metal deforming around her hand.</p><p>“Jeez Nina, did a fly land on your pancakes this morning?” Coco deadpanned, busy disentangling herself from the cabling of Nina’s gauntlets.</p><p>“Oh shut up,” Nina retorted, too sore and worn out to properly punish Coco for the remark. Forcing away her dizziness, Nina stood up, keeping a hand planted on the door for balance. She looked at herself, her already sour mood compounded by the fact that she was now covered head to toe in the guts and viscera of wumpa fruits. She did not look forward to the headache that was going to be washing it out.</p><p>Did wumpa juice stain? She hoped not.</p><p>Too sore to do anything else but lay there and catch their breaths, it wasn’t until the sound of approaching footsteps and the click of weapons reached their ears that they lazily turned their attention the small crowd of goons that penned them in against the truck they just fell out of.</p><p>“What’s goin’ on here?” the leading goon question, gun held at the hip and ready to fire at a moments notice while he led a group of thugs to investigate the disturbance they had caused.</p><p>"Oh come on," Coco grumbled, thoroughly not in the mood for dealing with them right now.</p><p>Before either of them could do anything, whether it be to fight, run, or mouth off to the goon, she was suddenly shoved away as a gauntlet shot over her head, steel fingers wrapping around the barrel of the weapon, crushing it into uselessness before it was ripped out of his grasp and flung to the side. Thoroughly caught off guard by what she just saw, Coco turned her head, ready to demand what was wrong with Nina and why she would actively provoke the goons pointing fully automatic weapons at them.        </p><p>Coco immediately put any notion of that far and away from her mind the moment she saw the hideously contorted look of utter disdain that, for once in her immediate memory, was not directed at her, Nina's eyes burning red from barely restrained fury and wumpa juice.</p><p>“What the-“ the goon yelped in alarm, until he was cut off when Nina grabbed him by his throat, dragging him along until she was staring directly into his eyes.</p><p>“Where is Pinstripe?”</p><p>Looking remarkably chipper compared to before, Nina’s voice was soft as she asked the question, and Coco felt a chill crawl along her spine her spine like an icy claw, and a glance to the side confirmed the rest of Pinstripe’s lackeys were just as affected by the sight as she was, their furred faces paling as they clutched their weapons to themselves, terror and recognition of just who they were looking at clear on their expressions.</p><p>“Wh-what?” the goon caught in Nina’s grip stammered. “I don’t know what-“</p><p>“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?” Nina roared, loud enough to disturb a flock of birds as they flew away. “IF YOU DON’T TELL ME WHERE PINSTRIPE IS, I’M GONNA MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE SCRUBBING TOILETS AT DINGO’S DINER!”</p><p>It was at this point Coco felt she should intervene. She had no sympathy for Pinstripe or his underlings, but there was a limit to how she could stomach, and threatening someone with a punishment that severe? The very thought made her stomach churn. She raised her finger in preparation to speak up, until her ears twitched at the sound of something in the distance.</p><p>“The boss’s headquarters are back that way!” the goon bawled, barely able form a coherent sentence in face of Cortex’s infamously irate niece. “Just a couple miles! He’s got his base set up on a volcano, past some old ruins or somethin’!”</p><p>The sound grew louder, and soon was accompanied by the distinct rumble of extremely heavy footsteps, and suddenly she was reminded that she and Nina still had bigger problems on their hands. “Uh, Nina?” she began.</p><p>Nina seemed to either not hear her, or was flat out ignoring Coco as she continued to stare down the goon. “You’d better not be lying to me, or I’ll-“</p><p>“Nina!”</p><p>“What?!” Nina yelled back, throwing the goon to the ground, whereupon he crawled away to hide behind his buddies in an attempt to shield himself from her wrath.</p><p>The thudding grew louder and louder. Knowing better than to waste time explaining, Coco simply rushed forward, hastily grabbing Nina by the waste and hauling her away like a sack of potatoes.</p><p>“Hey! Let me go! I told you I’m not-” Nina began, only to be cut off as the totem, still dead set on chasing them, erupting from the tree line with a leap that should not have been possible for something its size. It landed right on top of the truck they were just standing next and the vehicle practically exploded in a cloud of shrapnel and wumpa fruit.</p><p>Everyone present was shaken from the impact, and it was Coco do to keep her balance as she veered towards the transport at the rear of the convoy. Despite the chaos, Nina continued to struggle and hurl every insult imaginable at Coco, going largely unheard beneath as the sound of shouts and gunfire rang out in a deafening cacophony.</p><p>A furious roar drowned them all out, and Coco risked a glance behind just in time to see the totem god spew a column of fire down the length of the convoy, igniting many of the transports and causing them to erupt in raging inferno. Pinstripes lackeys had all but forgotten their existence as they rushed past, unloading thousands of rounds into the giant even as it continued in its rampage, unaffected by the paltry defense mounted against it.</p><p>Soon enough Coco skidded to a halt before the driver door just as the vehicle began to reverse, unceremonious dumping Nina to the ground before proceeding to rip it open.</p><p>“Hey!” the driver protested, fumbling with the gears. “What’re you-“</p><p>“Don’t mind if I borrow this do you?”</p><p>Coco didn’t give the goon a chance to answer, knocking him out with a swift punch to his jaw before grabbing him the collar and throwing him out of the drivers’ seat in an unconscious heap. The lab assistant in the passenger seat, recognizing Coco for who she was and knowing better than to put up a fight, left of his own accord as he dove out the opposite door.</p><p>Still recovering from the unwanted ride, Nina was given no time to regain her bearings as she was once again hauled up by the waist. “Whoa!” she yelped, having been all but thrown into the passenger seat, quickly followed by Coco as she leapt into the drivers’ seat.</p><p>“I’m starting to take serious issue with you just grabbing me without warning. I’m more than capable of walking you know,” Nina complained.</p><p>“You can tell me about it after we get out of here,” Coco said, practically stomping on the reverse. The engine thrummed, yet nothing seemed to happen as the truck remained stationary. “C’mon!” she growled, watching the dial move into the red on the dashboard.</p><p>Beside her, Nina was fuming, about to tell Coco off for dismissing her like that, until movement outside the windshield caught her attention. Her tirade was ended before it could begin as a flaming transport tumbled past, narrowly missing them by inches. Any sense of indignation Nina had left was replaced by a growing sense of urgency as the totem god began to stomp towards them.</p><p>“Any time now,” she mentioned.</p><p>“What does it look like I’m doing?!” Coco retorted, not in mood. She poked her head out the window, her panic increasing when she saw the rear wheels spin uselessly in the poorly made road, flinging mud into the air. The totem god loomed closer, its thundering footstep shaking cabin. The totem god’s head rotated, the face with the gaping mouth already billowing with emerald flames.</p><p>The two girls screamed in unison, before a sudden lurch nearly made the foreheads collide with the dashboard as the wheels finally caught traction right before a plume of flame tore a charred crater out of the ground where they had just been. Enraged at missing its target, the totem roared and began to chase after them.</p><p>“Go faster! Go faster!” Nina commanded, the fingers of her good hand digging deep furrows in the upholstery as they both watched the monstrosity easily keep pace with the fleeing vehicle.</p><p>“I’m going as fast as I can!” Coco replied, practically putting all of her weight on the gas pedal, her attention divided between the totem god and the rearview mirrors, doing her best to keep the transport straight as they careened down the uneven muddy road.</p><p>Her worries were only compounded upon when she saw a rather sharp looking turn coming up. Realizing she only had a precious few moments to prepare, Coco simply shouted, “Hang on tight!”</p><p>Nina didn’t get the chance to demand what Coco was doing before her words were stolen from her and turned into a panicked scream as Coco stomped on the brakes, turning the wheel as far to the right as possible. Carried onward by its own weight and the slick mud, the truck somehow miraculously remained upright, the steering wheel fighting Coco every step of the way as she struggled to keep hold, her hands going numb from how tight she was gripping it, in spite of every nerve in her body telling her to let go.</p><p>Just when it seemed they were about the fly off the road and carve a new path into the jungle before dying in a fiery explosion, Coco’s instincts kicked in the moment the turn appeared in the corner of her vision, and she once again applied pressure to the gas pedal. The transport tilted dangerously from the sudden turn, and for a few terrifying moments they were driving with half of its wheels in the air, before righting itself with a jarring impact, sending not nailed down in the flying.</p><p>This included Nina, screaming and cursing the whole time. Glancing at the rearview mirrors again, a sense of relief crept up in Coco as she saw they were actually putting some distance between them and the totem god as fell further and further behind, until finally it seemed to give up the chase entirely, letting loose a bellowing howl of rage and anger that even from far behind still reverberated in their ears.</p><p>Every fiber in her body was tense despite the escape, and it was until a couple of minutes passed that she finally relaxed ever so slightly as Coco let out a tension filled laugh.</p><p>“Coco,” Nina began as she reoriented herself and thrusting a finger at the Bandicoot, “I swear, on everything that is wretched and vile in this world, if you ever, and I mean <em>ever</em>, do anything like that again, I will throw you off a cliff.”</p><p>It was not the first time Coco had been threatened as such. The threat itself wasn’t even original, not being the first time Nina had threatened to toss her from a high place. It wouldn't even be the first time it happened to Coco. Despite knowing she should’ve expected such an attitude from the brat, especially after saving her sorry butt, Coco couldn’t help but feel at least peeved.</p><p>She didn’t see the worth in arguing the point however, instead resorting to simply uttering, “Fair enough,” and keeping her attention focused on the road in front of her, eager to get as far away from the totem god and Pinstripe’s goons as possible.</p>
<hr/><p>“What do you mean destroyed?!” Pinstripe roared in fury at the cowering underlings, all nearby henchman in the control room flinching at seeing their master so thoroughly incensed, some even making a notable effort to inch away as he continued to berate the two goons who had been so unwise as to come bearing such ill news.</p><p>“Th-that’s what I said, Boss,” one quivered, visibly shrinking under Pinstripe’s withering gaze. “The whole convoy got blown up.”</p><p>At this Pinstripe got up out of his seat overlooking his domain, and began a slow stalk towards them. To their credit, neither dared to make any move to scurry back, though it was likely due to being too afraid of their master to even think about fleeing.</p><p>Pinstripe did not care either way. “By what?” he said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper, the pupils in his hateful eyes shrunken into pinpricks, adding to his already intimidating posture as he loomed over them, casting a menacing shadow.</p><p>It took a moment for one underling to finally find his words, saying, “I d-don’t know. Word over the radio is it was some kinda rock monster or something. Just showed up outa nowhere and just demolished the whole place, shipments and-“</p><p>Whatever the underlings was about to say was lost as Pinstripe suddenly grabbed him by the front of his coat. He barely got the chance to scream as he thrown towards the window. The glass shattered instantly from impact, and the underlings howling scream was soon drowned out by the sudden rush of wind. Every set of eyes was locked onto Pinstripe as he stood panting in rage.</p><p>What else?</p><p>What else could possibly go wrong? Was it not already bad enough that they were behind schedule? Was it not humiliating enough that he had to bolster his own forces with Cortex’s lab assistants just to make any progress?</p><p>In his mind, Pinstripe knew that setbacks such as these were only to be expected. They came with the territory of turning an island into his own personal headquarters. The fact that the very island itself seemed to be doing everything to resist his efforts did absolutely nothing to alleviate his anger at the situation.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, it was only then Pinstripe realized that his hair had become disheveled from his exertion. Suddenly mindful of his appearance, he licked his palm and slicked it back into its proper position.</p><p>“Hey, it’s alright,” he said in a voice that was far too calm and cheery given the circumstances, turning to address his remaining henchman. “These kinds of things happen. We’ll just pick up the pieces, and move on. Am I right, or am right?”</p><p>A chorus of agreement rang from the collection of henchman as they nodded their heads unanimously, nervous grins decorating their faces. Just then Pinstripe noticed the second henchman had stuck around, eyes rooted to the window where his companion had just exited through.</p><p>“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Pinstripe questioned with a venomous sneer. The goon, snapped out of his fear induced trance, stammered as his boss glared down at him. “Well?”</p><p>Just when Pinstripe’s patience was just about to run out, the goon finally managed to utter, “Uh, th-there was something else we came to tell you, b-boss.”</p><p>Pinstripe’s eye twitched. “What?”</p><p>“We. . . may have a bit more of a situation on our hands.”</p>
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